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Lincoln 




Glass 
Book. 



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VBRAHAM LINCOLN 



ADDRESS 



OF 



HON. WILLIAM A. RODENBERG 

OF II^LIN^OIS 



IN IHE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



FEBRUARY 12, 1916 



m 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

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28439—15110 



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ADDRESS 

OF 

HON. WILLIAM A. RODENBERG. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



Mr. RODENBERG. Mr. SLpeaker, fivescore and seven years 
ago to-day the star of destiny slione resplendent over tlie cradle 
of an infant boy wlio, in tlie years to follow, was to be ac- 
claimed by history as one of America's grandest contributions 
to the world s heritage of great and noble men. On that day, in 
a cabin home, amid the hills of Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln 
was born, and on this anniversary of his birth the memory of 
that great and Godlike life thrills the soul of every American, 
giving him an inspiration of true nobility. [Applause.] 

Abraham Lincoln ! What a flood of mighty memories is 
awakened by that name. What a glorious panorama of patri- 
otic achievement it presents to view. How it seems to fathom 
the very depths of duty and- devotion, the innermost springs of 
sympathy and of sorrow. As we pronounce it reverently to- 
day the trials and tragedies and triumphs of the Nation's su- 
premest strtiggle pass again in review before us and, rising 
above the stress and strife of conflict, grand and majestic, like 
some tall cliff " that midway leaves the storm," we behold the 
one great central figure of that epoch of heroism, the one never- 
failing beacon light of national patriotism — our Lincoln — the 
world's Lincoln. [Applause.] 

As I attempt to-day to pay tribute to a personality so great, 
a character so gi-and, so complex, and yet so simple, I am over- 
whelmed with a sense of my inability to do even partial justice 
to his name and fame. I shall content myself, therefore, with 
a brief reference to a few of his great traits of character which 
I believe have left a profound and lasting impression upon the 
American mind. 

W^hy is it that no other name in the long roll of distinguished 
American statesmen stirs the heart of the Nation so deeply as 
that of Abraham Lincoln? Orators never weary of singing his 
praise, and hearers never tire of listening. Books on Lincoln 
multiply each year, and interest in them never flags. Every 
trivial relic of his homely life, every scrap of his writing, every 
prophetic saying, every jest, every anecdote, is treasured to-day 
by the people and bequeathed by them " as a rich legdcy unto 
their issue." 

It is not enough to say that Lincoln was a wise and patriotic 
President who died a martyr to a great cause. We have had 
other wise and devoted Presidents, and he is not the only martyr, 
but there is only one Lincoln. Washington we reverence, Jack- 
son we admire, Lincoln we love. His memory is enshrined more 
deeply in the heart of the Nation than that of any other man. 
and there is none so close as he to the source of tears and of 
emotion. 

This can not be explained by the fact that Lincoln rose by 
manly effort from the humblest ranks of backwoods life to the 
highest position in the gift of any people. It C-an not be accounted 
for by the fact that he was a noble embodiment of that splendid 
spirit of self-reliance that is bred of generations of lonely 

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H 

struggle under the sha,dQW of tl;\e forest primeval. It is not evei\ 
because he signed the great pro(^lamation of emancipation. 

These things are a part of the reason for the esteem in which 
we hold Lincoln, and so are his inexhaustible humor, liis intenst? 
earnestness, his tireless industry, his honesty and fairness, his 
courage, and his steadfastness of purpose. His homely and unaf- 
fected words and ways had something to do with his popularity, 
and so had his sturdy common sense. But not all of these ster- 
ling traits could make a Lincoln without something additional ; 
nor is the secret revealed by naming what is usually regarded as 
the crowning trait of his magnificent character— the fact that 
he always sought the right as God gave him to see the right, 
and that he devoted his life to a steadfast pursuance of it when 
once he was convinced he had found it. This will explain much, 
but it will never explain the flood of tender emotion that wells 
up from American hearts at mention of his incomparable name. 

Mr. Speaker, T believe that the true secret of our love for 
Lincoln was his own love for his fellow man. [Applause.] In 
his ungainly, giant form there was a heatt of infinite human sym- 
pathy, and this it was that illumined all his other traits of great- 
ness and has made the imperishable halo that lingers around his 
head. [Applause.] Without these he might have achieved great- 
ness, might have become President, might have freed the slaves 
as a political necessity, might even have brought the M-ar to a 
successful close, and have fallen a victim to an assassin's bullet, 
and yet we should not to-day be speaking of him as we do. It 
is this one supreme trait of human sympathy that carries his 
name out of the realm of intellect into that of emotion. [Ap- 
plause.] 

It was this same deep human sympathy that caused Lincoln 
to hate slavery and to throw all of the power of his logic and 
eloquence against it. It was this, too, that enabled him to hold 
that marvelous balance of judgment which could put the Union 
above all else and could hold back emancipation until the right 
time. He could put himself in the place of the citizen of the 
border States and feel that any radical move would imperil the 
cause of freedom itself. This note of human sympathy sounded 
forth in his first inaugural ; it ran throughout his relations with 
the soldiers during the great w^ar, and animated his last acts 
as it had his first. The soldiers fighting on the field and dying 
in the hospital thought of him, and they said to each other : " He 
cares ! He makes us fight, but he cares " ; and they fought on as 
they never would have fought without that warmth of feeling 
for the head of the Nation. 

Looking at the matter from any aspect and at any period of 
Lincoln's life, the prime cause of his greatness and of our pres- 
ent reverence for him is the fact that he was human in the best 
and truest sense of that fine word, and this is reason enough 
why the Nation loves the name of Abraham Lincoln. [Ap- 
plause.] 

Mr. Speaker, the fast-falling shadow^s of the past leave few 
names of men not enshrouded by their gloom. Many of the 
heroes of to-day will be lost to sight in the dimness of the ap- 
proaching twilight. To-morrow's sun will lighten up new 
shrines surrounded by tireless hosts of hero worshipers. As 
we look toward the past, earth's greatest heroes seem in strangest 
company — Christ and the condemned men, the missionary and 
the cannibal, Lincoln and the despised black man — there they 
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stand together in the crowd, on Calvary, surrounded by jeering 
multitudes ; but to-day they are together among the immortals. 
[Applause.] These saviors of the race will never be forgotten. 
Lincoln's heart solved more problems than his brain. His very 
gentleness made hhn the great emancipator, reconciler, the com- 
posite character of the American people. Hope, which is the 
prophet in every heart, was king and priest besides in his. It 
ruled his life and consecrated his deeds. Other men turned 
their backs in despair on the Republic's future; he, through 
densest darkness, saw with prescient light and gaze the glory 
of the coming dawn. [Applause.] 

In the city ot Springfield, in beautiful Oak Ridge Cemetery, 
he sleeps the sleep of eternity. Many are the times that I have 
stood with bowed head beside that sacred tomb and thought of 
th(;; great soul that once inhabited the tenement of clay now 
moldering into the dust from whence it came. And standing 
there in the presence of the mighty dead, my faith in humanity 
has been strengthened and my confidence in the perpetuity of the 
Republic and its glorious destiny has been made secure. [Ap- 
plause.] 

History tells us that when Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, 
was dying he asked that his heart be removed from his body 
and borne by knightly hands to the sacred sepulcher of the 
Savior. Upon his death the Earl of Douglas, his trusted friend 
and companion, removed the heart from the body, placed it in a 
beautiful golden casket, and, surrounding himself with a number 
of brave young Scotch warriors, they set out on their holy mis- 
sion. On the way they were attacked by a large body of Moors, 
who almost overcame them by force of superior numbers. When 
defeat seemed almost certain, Douglas took in his hand the 
sacred casket and hurled it far out into the midst of the enemy, 
shouting : 

Learl on, heart of Bruce, 

We follow thee! 

And the knights of Scotland, never having been defeated when 
following the leadership of Bruce, took new courage. They 
rushed upon the enemy with the fury of the whirlwind and 
gained the day. [Applause.] 

To-day when those who, unmindful of the spirit that animated 
the founders of this Republic, would fan the fiames of racial 
fury and kindle into life the dying embers of bigotry and intoler- 
ance ; when those who, for base and ignoble purposes of self- 
exploitation, would place the brand of treason upon the brows of 
men whose loyalty and devotion in the darkest days of the 
^^ation's life were never questioned — to-day, when the enemies of 
that broader and better fraternal ism, which lies at the very 
foundation of national peace and national unity, are advancing 
upon us, the true and loyal citizens of this Republic, of whatever 
creed or ancestry, catching the inspiration that breathes upon 
them from the glorious memories of the past, with true American 
patriotism will take in their hand the great heart of Abraham 
Lincoln, incase it in their love, and hurl it far out into the midst 
of the enemy, shouting : 

Lead on, heart of Lincoln, 

We follow thee ; 

We follow thee ! 

[Prolonged applause.] 

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